Could the prison boom go bust?

An abrupt decline in the nation's state prison population after three decades of enormous growth offers some hope that lower crime rates might finally mean fewer people will be behind bars.

The decrease of 62,000 in a state prison population of 1.2 million for the second half of last year, according to the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, was modest and mostly in 13 states. They did not include Illinois, where the inmate population increased 1.4 percent to 44,660. Federal prisons also grew by 10,170 inmates to a total of 145,000.

Nevertheless, the decline in states like Massachusetts (5.6 percent), New York (3.7 percent) and Texas (3.2) contributed to the first national decrease since 1972. The prison population has more than tripled since 1980, even though crime has been dropping since 1992.

Much of that drop undoubtedly came as a result of tougher sentencing. But the prison growth has come with a high financial and social cost of its own.

Most of those who have received enhanced penalties under California's seven-year-old "three-strike" law, for example, were sentenced for nonviolent crimes, a new study by the Washington-based Sentencing Project finds. About half the states have passed similar mandatory-minimum sentencing laws.

Across the country, record-breaking prison construction and annual operating costs running about $30 billion have drained so much money that less costly alternatives begin to look better.

Much of the decline in prison population has resulted from a growing belief by judges, legislators, parole boards and local communities that alternatives to jail can save money and restore some of the rehabilitative purposes prison systems have lost.

Some states have begun to treat nonviolent drug offenders as medical patients instead of criminals.

California's newly passed Proposition 36 for example, requires treatment instead of jail for nonviolent first or second offenses and allocates $120 million to expand treatment, job training and family counseling.

The decline in crime has been a relief. A decline in crime, and in the number of people behind bars, is a blessing.